Reintegrating autistic boy (7) into PE, games and swimming at school

[fishface1979]

Hi, my son starting opting out of swimming, PE and games towards the end of year two. He's now realised that he gets away with that and he either referees/sits on the side/sometimes ticks names off a list etc etc. The school has contacted me to discuss strategies as to how to re-involve him but as he's totally intransigent I'm not certain what to suggest beyond some rewards/praise/avoiding competitive elements eg matches and not changing. Does anyone have any tips? What worked for your autistic children in terms of involving them in school sport/PE? Thanks so much.

started
sorry; typing too fast... they will let him just wear trainers rather than full kit, but beyond that I'm a bit stumped...

Could he initially have a “challenge” to do with other children one at a time. Maybe something simple like seeing how many times they can throw and catch a ball as a pair, and then recording the number? I had a child in my Year 3 class who struggled with PE last year (not autistic, but a lot smaller than the other children and terrified of the ball hitting him in the face) and this was a good stepping stone to get him reinvolved.

I guess it really depends why he’s not wanting to do PE and tackling those specific issues if he’s able to articulate what they are. Perhaps rather than just expecting him to rejoin PE all at once it could be built up, so one lesson he could join in with the warm up and then do some “helping”, and the next time join in a bit more, etc, so it’s not too overwhelming.

With the child in my class last year, we found it was sometimes helpful to let him watch for a little while so that he understood the activity and then he could choose what to join in with - he often just needed some extra processing time before he could join in.

if your son has a 1:2:1, or there’s a class TA available to work with him, could they do activities with him (or him and another child) which are linked to what the rest of the class is doing, but not having to join in with everyone straight away?